By Russ Rizzo
The Salt Lake Tribune
VERNAL, Utah — The manhunt for two escaped murderers in northeast Utah intensified Wednesday after at least two people reported seeing the men walking south toward Vernal about 30 miles from the Daggett County jail where they escaped four days ago, police said.
A woman driving past a campsite four-and-a-half miles north of the Daggett-Uintah county line told police she saw men who matched descriptions of Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevalo, 27, and Danny Martin Gallegos, 49, about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It was unclear when she alerted authorities.
Then, about 7:45 p.m., a man pulled into a parking lot with an outhouse a half-mile from the county line and came across two men who asked for a ride, according to Detective Dick Blust of the Sweetwater County, Wyo., Sheriff’s Department. The man refused to give the men a ride and called police, Blust said. A Vernal police officer showed the man photos of the escapees and he was certain at least one of the men matched one of the photos, Blust said.
Utah Highway Patrol troopers and Daggett County deputies searched the area, about 35 miles north of Vernal, Tuesday night with no luck, Blust said. Officers set up check points south and north of the county line Wednesday morning, alerting drivers to be on the lookout and searching trucks, while the Department of Corrections sent a dozen SWAT team members and other officers back north to search areas of the Ashley National Forest that bisect Highway 191. A Department of Public Safety helicopter and FBI plane searched from the air.
The southern check point was expected to remain through the night Wednesday as troopers and deputies patrolled the road, Blust said.
The full search effort will resume this morning, Blust said.
Police believe the men remain on foot and in their jail-issued gray jumpsuits, and no weapon has been seen, Blust said. Authorities announced a $20,000 reward Wednesday for the escapees’ capture.
For four days police have searched the rugged terrain surrounding the Daggett County jail, where Diaz-Arevalo and Gallegos slipped through an unlocked back door, climbed a fence and jumped off a roof to get to freedom about 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The lone deputy and control-room employee guarding the prison’s 118 inmates noticed the men missing during dinner hours later, Daggett County Sheriff Rick Ellsworth said.
A Vernal police dog arrived Monday morning and tracked what police believe are the escapee’s footprints from the west side of the jail to the state road in front of the jail before losing the track, Department of Corrections Director Tom Patterson said.
Police hope four days in the rugged terrain with little access to food, and below-freezing temperatures, will wear down the men.
“Logic dictates that they’ve got to be pretty worn down by now,” Blust said.
The mountainous area, heavily forested in parts, lies above 8,000 feet with gullies and streams throughout it. A full moon illuminated a clear sky Wednesday night.
“I don’t know how they’ve gotten this far,” said hunter Josh Keel, of Vernal.
Keel scouted the area in a pickup truck Wednesday in preparation for the upcoming elk-hunting season and said he saw at least 100 other hunters in the area for the first day of muzzle-loading season.
Trailers left weeks in advance to secure prime spots could have provided the escapees with food, Keel said.
Patterson said inmates at Daggett County will remain in lockdown until Ellsworth addresses security concerns, including putting more razor wire on the fence the inmates used to gain access to the roof.
The same fence was used in the jail’s last escape in 2005. Patterson said he planned to review security at each of the 20 county jails the state contracts with to send state prisoners because of overcrowding.
Diaz-Arevalo had served one year for killing his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Lindsey Rae Fawson, in 2005. He was sentenced to seven years to life in prison. Diaz-Arevalo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, is a gang member and drug dealer who returned to the United States after he was deported on gun charges, prosecutors said.
Gallegos admitted to killing 18-year-old Tammy Syndergaard in 1990 in South Salt Lake. He was denied parole in 2005, when his next hearing was scheduled for 2025.
Copyright 2007 Salt Lake Tribune